I clearly recollect the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Gough Whitlam, standing before 60 of us Aboriginal people and asking that we tell him what we wanted from his government rather than 'what we think is best for you'. No other Prime Minister had ever made that statement and nobody since, including Kevin Rudd.
— Chicka Dixon, Aboriginal activist and humanitarian [5]

Like in a James Bond thriller

Stephen Hagan, an Aboriginal academic, tells how he felt when he had to do business at an office for Aboriginal-specific services [6].

"I had cause to visit a Indigenous-specific office in Brisbane with a relative to speak to a public servant and was appalled to observe the process we had to go through in securing a face-to-face meeting.

We had to press a button on a blank wall - there was no Indigenous art decor to speak of or sitting room to take a seat in - and wait for an anonymous voice to come over the intercom to direct us to another floor where someone observing our movement on a security camera continued to direct us through slowly opening doors.

At the end of a series of manoeuvres that wouldn't look out of place in a James Bond thriller, we arrived at our destination to be greeted by a non-Indigenous public servant in a most uninviting meeting room.

I shook my head and knew at that instant why Indigenous clients don't visit these offices..."